


two kids lost in a new dream

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: tumblr prompts/ask game answers [7]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir Needs a Hug, Gabriel Agreste's A+ Parenting, Gen, Identity Reveal, Nooroo Needs a Hug (Miraculous Ladybug), Podfic Welcome, Post-Hawk Moth Defeat, Protective Plagg (Miraculous Ladybug), Runaway Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, but like.. barely, sorta in this case
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22141873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: A giggle bursts out of her as Adrien runs past and throws himself onto the hotel bed, squirming around to grin up at her with half his hair stuck to the side of his head.  “I win.”“We weren’t competing,” Marinette tells him, setting down both their bags.  To her surprise, Adrien travels a lot lighter than the rest of them do, like he can’t quite figure out what he’s supposed to bring with.Or like he’d spent more than one night planning around needing to leave in a hurry, but Marinette doesn’t think that she should bring that up.  She can’t tell him why she’d have thought of it, anyway.Adrien blows some of his hair out of his face.  He’d quit using any hair products immediately after they’d left Paris, and she thinks he’s trying to let his hair grow out, too.  “I was competing.  And I won.“
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: tumblr prompts/ask game answers [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1478756
Comments: 41
Kudos: 656





	two kids lost in a new dream

**Author's Note:**

> for anonymous for a tumblr ask meme: the song [A New Way by morgxn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al7XDZS0Hmk) and Adrinette

A giggle bursts out of her as Adrien runs past and throws himself onto the hotel bed, squirming around to grin up at her with half his hair stuck to the side of his head. “I win.”

“We weren’t _competing_ ,” Marinette tells him, setting down both their bags. To her surprise, Adrien travels a lot lighter than the rest of them do, like he can’t quite figure out what he’s _supposed_ to bring with. 

Or like he’d spent more than one night planning around needing to leave in a hurry, but Marinette doesn’t think that she should bring that up. She can’t tell him why she’d have thought of it, anyway. 

Adrien blows some of his hair out of his face. He’d quit using any hair products immediately after they’d left Paris, and she thinks he’s trying to let his hair grow out, too. “ _I_ was competing. And I won.“ 

"That isn’t how that-” Marinette laughs again, suddenly achingly grateful to Kagami, because she’d never have known that she could be this comfortable around Adrien if Kagami hadn’t wanted to be friends with her first. She doesn’t know if she’d have been able to let go of her need to impress him if she hadn’t seen how much Kagami worried over not hurting either of them. “That’s not how that works, Adrien." 

"Sure it is." Adrien’s grin has more shadows in it than she’s used to seeing, but it’s closer to his normal one than she’d have expected. "Just accept that I won this round.”

Marinette picks up a notepad from the nearby dresser and throws it at Adrien with unerring accuracy. 

He catches it, the jerk. 

“This is supposed to be mine and Alya’s room, anyway,” Marinette complains, crossing to collapse onto the bed herself. She leaves plenty of space between them, but since Adrien rolls closer a second later with a muffled sound she could _swear_ is somehow familiar, it doesn’t exactly matter. “Go find Nino, you’re supposed to share with him." 

Adrien doesn’t move. 

"Adrien, come on,” Marinette pleads, feeling herself flush, because she’s not actually _opposed_ if he decides he’d rather stay here. “Kagami and Luka already swapped rooms around and so did Max, we can’t _all_ keep doing this." 

"Sure we can,” Adrien mumbles, curling impossibly closer. “No Hawkmoth. We can all annoy each other as much as we want." 

Marinette pauses. 

She and Chat Noir hadn’t gone public with Hawkmoth’s identity, and he’d chosen to go to jail under his pseudonym in possibly the _first_ attempt to protect Adrien he’d ever made, but Adrien himself obviously knows. Even if Marinette and Chat Noir hadn’t immediately agreed to tell him he’d _probably_ have noticed when his father vanished.

It hadn’t been anywhere as hard to keep Hawkmoth’s identity a secret as it probably should have been. Gabriel Agreste’s been a recluse for so many years that most people have just assumed he’d chosen to withdraw further from the public eye. The only person who was likely to say otherwise was Nathalie, and she actually _had_ vanished shortly after that final confrontation. 

(Which is worrying, because they _don’t_ know where Mayura is, and Chat Noir at least is positive that Mayura has to be Nathalie).

Marinette frowns, eyes tracking the play of shadows on the ceiling briefly as she tries to ignore Adrien settling more securely at her side. She hopes Alya’s resigned to a room change, because it doesn’t look like Adrien is planning to move. 

That might be a lot easier on Marinette. The school trip is- okay, she’s forgotten the official reason. The _real_ reason is very much to celebrate Hawkmoth’s defeat. Their class had added Luka and Kagami and Marc and Jalil’s names mostly as a joke, but then they’d managed to actually _bring_ them. 

(The only one unhappy about this is Alix, who’s spent the past two days loudly declaring that she’s an only child and that she’s never met Jalil in her life). 

But Marinette doesn’t like when she has to go for too long without talking to Tikki. She’s too used to spending time with her kwami to want to stop now.

And now she has Nooroo with her.

She couldn’t very well risk talking to Nooroo or Tikki with Alya in the same room- Alya’s too observant for her to take that risk. Adrien, though, tends to run late and disappear at odd times almost as much as Marinette does, and although she’d wondered how much of that was due to his schedule it’s only gotten worse if anything since his father had been caught. Marinette’s a lot more likely to have chances to spend time with the kwami if she lets this sudden room change happen. 

She tries to pretend that’s her only reason. 

"We should at least see about going to dinner with some of the others,” Marinette tries, but Adrien grumbles pointedly and stays where he is. Honestly, he’s worse than Chat Noir. At least Chat would be interested at the mention of food. 

Adrien probably needs to talk to someone just as badly as Nooroo does, and Marinette knows it, but she’s at a loss for how to help. If Chat Noir were here then she’d ask if _he_ had any advice, because while he doesn’t bring it up very much she knows Chat isn’t on very good terms with his own father, but he’d told her before she’d left that he was going to be out of town for a few days, too.

It had taken a lot of coaxing from Tikki for Marinette not to stay behind, after that. 

They don’t know where Mayura is- but no one knows where Mayura is, and she hasn’t tried to attack once since they’d caught Hawkmoth. They aren’t even sure what her goals are. After two weeks of silence, though, even Tikki thinks taking a break should be safe enough. 

“Besides, we’re not going that far,” Tikki had pointed out, trying to reassure Marinette. “Getting back here if we have to shouldn’t be a problem." 

So Marinette had gone, although she hoped Chat was planning to return sooner than she was. She’d half-considered inviting him along with them, before reluctantly discarding the idea when she couldn’t figure out a way to make it work without putting their identities at risk. 

She wants to talk to Tikki about it first, but she wants to tell Chat Noir who she is when they get back. She just- doesn’t want to end up telling everyone _else_ who they are. 

They can afford to wait a little longer, anyway. For the first time since she’d met Tikki, Marinette feels like she has time to breathe. For at least the length of this trip she doesn’t _have_ to be constantly ready to fight and she’s going to take as much advantage of that as she possibly can. 

Marinette sits up at that thought, leaving Adrien to roll into the space she’s vacated. He sprawls like Chat Noir, too, even to the point of somehow landing in every available scrap of sunlight and soaking it up. ” _I’m_ going to go join Kagami, at least. We should see if her mother’s worked out where she is yet.“ 

"She hasn’t,” Adrien says, without opening his eyes. “We’d know." 

"That’s fair,” Marinette admits with a sigh, getting up to move their bags further into the room. Guiltily, she drops hers onto the other bed, the one she’d ignored when she’d dropped down next to Adrien instead. “Kagami would already be in here." 

"She could be in my room instead." The lazy smirk Adrien turns to her is _way_ too reminiscent of Chat Noir, enough that it makes Marinette’s heart seize for a moment, and just as she’s starting to get her breath back she gets a much bigger shock. 

"I’m not _made_ for being patient, you know,” a familiar voice whines from Adrien’s bag just as Marinette goes to move it. Plagg pops into view as she’s still reeling, fixing her with a glare. “Do you have Nooroo with you or not?”

“ _Plagg?”_ Marinette breathes. 

She doesn’t remember looking over at Adrien at all, but his eyes are wide open now, fixed on hers. 

Because if he has Plagg, then- then she can stop worrying about not being able to bring Chat Noir with.

And he has to know what it means that she _recognises_ Plagg.

“Um." Adrien gives her a very, very weak smile. "Surprise?”

“ _Surprise_ -” Marinette isn’t aware she’s raised her hand to her face until it comes away wet. She doesn’t know how to _deal_ with this revelation. She wouldn’t have expected tears of relief to be her immediate reaction, but here she is.

No wonder Chat Noir’s been avoiding her awkward requests that he try talking to Adrien. 

(Marinette’s been afraid that if _she_ tries, she’ll only make things worse).

“Yeah, surprise,” Plagg says, zipping into the air and phasing impatiently into Marinette’s belongings. “Is Nooroo here or not?!" 

Marinette sits down hard where she is, shaking her head even as she stares back at Adrien. "Nooroo’s here. Tikki, too." 

” _Plagg_ ,“ Tikki says, spiralling out of Marinette’s purse to glare at her counterpart. "You couldn’t wait a few more hours?" 

"They _just_ argued themselves out of going to dinner, I’m not waiting around for them to figure this out." Plagg’s voice is muffled. "Nooroo?" 

Wordlessly, Marinette opens her purse again. Nooroo edges out of it, dividing wary glances between Adrien and Tikki. He doesn’t say anything, but Nooroo hasn’t talked very much since he’d come with Marinette, and she hasn’t wanted to push him. 

"Guess I know why you said Nooroo shouldn’t come with you,” Marinette tries out, shakily. Once the words are out there, acknowledging that her friend and partner are the same person, she can’t take them back. 

Adrien starts to say something and stutters to a halt. Licking his lips, he twists the blanket under one hand as he mutters, “I didn’t think Nooroo should have to stay at the mansion." 

"Neither should you,” Marinette fires back immediately, feeling her face redden but not wanting to take it back. This isn’t something she wants to back down on, not when he _shouldn’t_ have to stay there. 

And she’d wanted _Chat_ to talk to him.

“Is there even anyone _there_ with you?” Marinette tries to keep her voice more even, this time. She’d have thought knowing she was only worrying about one person would be a relief, but instead of lessening her concerns it’s combined them. “If you need us to tell more people after all-”

“I’m not sure yet." Adrien sits up, scooting up against the headboard until only his feet are in his previous strip of sunlight. Marinette catches herself glancing down where she fully expects his tail to wrap around them. "I was gonna think about it more on this trip. It’s-” He falters, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s kind of hard to think about in the mansion." 

Oh. Yeah. Marinette winces at that, thoughts flashing to the way that last battle had taken them through so much of Adrien’s home. She’s honestly surprised he didn’t find a reason to leave sooner. Chat Noir’s been out a lot, but not so much more than usual that she’d thought much of it. She has been too, anyway. 

There’s been a lot of speculation on the Ladyblog about that, about whether there’s some other threat they’re preparing for, but the reality is that they’ve just been celebrating. Having superpowers is _fun_ , and for the first time they can both spend some time enjoying their powers without feeling guilty for it. 

"I’ve got Plagg,” Adrien adds, and she does recognise the hint of defensiveness in his voice from conversations with Chat. “And the Gorilla stayed. Some of the staff did, too. It’s not just me.”

“Just mostly,” Plagg cuts in, though he’s looking between Adrien and Nooroo like he doesn’t know which to go to first. “And no one stays the night." 

Adrien scowls over at the kwami. ” _You_ do.“ 

"Yeah, and that’s so effective that you leapt at this trip first chance you got,” Plagg snipes, before turning back to Nooroo.

Marinette’s relieved to hear Nooroo responding to him, if so quietly that she can’t make out the words. Nooroo talks a _little_ , but not much, and never to her. She hasn’t been able to figure out why, and she hasn’t known how to help. She’s glad that Plagg apparently _can_. 

Plagg showed himself _deliberately_. Nooroo’s not the only one he’s worried about. 

“At least the trip’s a few days,” Marinette offers, finally getting up to cross back to the bed and take a seat at Adrien’s side. “But once we’re back- Chloé can’t be the only one with a spare room. We can find somewhere else for you to stay." She takes a deep breath, but she’s debated this with Tikki since they’d first started picking up on some of the hints in Chat’s behaviour. "You can always stay with me.”

“I think your parents might think differently.” Adrien’s voice is uneven. 

“Not if I tell them that I’m Ladybug,” Marinette says quietly, and Adrien stills. “I don’t think you should still be there anymore than Nooroo should. _Plagg_ clearly doesn’t think you should. And we can- I can tell them, now. We don’t have to fight to make this change. We can just explain ourselves, this time.”

“Mayura’s still out there." Adrien is looking at Plagg and Nooroo, but he’s starting to lean against her again. 

Before Marinette can respond, all three kwami flit over to them. Tikki lands by Marinette’s side and Plagg on Adrien’s shoulder, but Nooroo settles on Adrien’s free hand and looks up at him uncertainly. 

"Another reason you should not be _there_." Nooroo’s voice is halting, but it’s the most Marinette’s heard the butterfly kwami speak at one time. 

Adrien closes his eyes briefly. "It _is_ Nathalie, isn’t it." 

"Yes,” Nooroo admits, not without sympathy. “She’s known from the start." 

Adrien shifts to cup both hands around Nooroo, gently. "If _you_ don’t want me around, I’d understand." 

Nooroo rears back slightly, wings fluttering to keep his balance. "I was about to say the same to you." 

"I’m bringing them both home after this trip,” Marinette tells Tikki, who starts giggling. “They’re all gonna get in trouble without us." 

Plagg preens. "Like you’re not gonna go ahead and find trouble _with_ us." 

**Author's Note:**

> there is totally a way to pull this kind of rooming shenanigans at fifteen or sixteen and it is 'be the chess team, no one bothers to supervise the chess team trip'


End file.
